Effects of manure Spill on Beaver creek
This drawing illustrates the true story of how 100,000 gallons of raw liquefied hog manure from a 9,000 hog factory farm spilled into Beaver creek, Minnesota.
In June of 1997 people who lived along Beaver creek in Renville county Minnesota noticed hundreds of dead and dying fish. Those fish that were still clinging to life were gasping at the surface for oxygen. Crayfish were seen scrambling up the stream banks to escape the toxic stew.
The cause of this was traced to a faulty automatic timer that was supposed to flush manure into a holding pit failed to shut off, causing the manure to fill above the level of the pit spilling into the adjacent field all night long.
When the nutrients contained in the manure, notably nitrogen and phosphorous began the microbial break-down process, the dissolved oxygen in the stream water was used up. In addition manure contains ammonia, which is just plain toxic to fish and other invertebrates.
The end result was that roughly 690,000 fish in a 20 mile stretch downstream from the spill-source were dead. Not to mention the innumerable invertebrates species that are the lynch-pin to any fresh water ecosystem.